Mysterious Fuxian Lake

 

Mysterious Fuxian Lake

 

Archaeological expert Aza is talking with Lacuo, Agudengba and John about the sudden disappearance of the ancient Dian Kingdom. At this time, the singing voices of several girls came from outside the house. They were happily singing the Yunnan ballad "Beautiful Fuxian Lake" there.

Old man Aza said to Lacuo, Agudengba and John:

If you travel far tomorrow, you can go to Fuxian Lake in Chengjiang, Yunnan. You will definitely taste the fresh and fat live fish from Fuxian Lake.

Of course, my suggestion is not that you go to Fuxian Lake just to eat fish. I just want to interest you in a legend.

According to the legend of Chengjiang people: there was a mysterious passage at the bottom of Fuxian Lake. The entrance of this passage was hundreds of meters deep under Fuxian Lake... They said that the Han army discovered the secret after arriving at Dian Lake. The passage was destroyed by the Dian nobles.

And these nobles disappeared. They were not killed, but escaped through the secret passage. Before leaving, they flooded the entrance, cutting off this passage forever. ​

Perhaps, this legend that spans more than 2,000 years will make you feel like a joke. You must be thinking, how could Sichuan people go to India through this passage? How could the people of Yunnan ever hold the key to the whole world?

But old man Aza hadn't finished telling this legend yet. He continued:

The most terrifying thing is that in 1992, archaeologists actually discovered a huge ancient Dian city at the bottom of Fuxian Lake. It is said that there are more than 2,000 corpses suspended above the city, like some kind of mysterious ritual. The remains were wrapped in corpse wax, unable to sink or float.

Old man Aza said:

You will suddenly feel that the big live fish here no longer taste good. You will also find that everyone in Chengjiang loves to eat fish, but they never eat the fish from Fuxian Lake...

You will also start to wonder, is there really a secret passage to India under Fuxian Lake?

However, 20 years ago, archaeologists were also deceived by Chengjiang people. So, they decided to eliminate this legend, and they wanted to crack the secret of the disappearance of the ancient Dian people. And after more than 10 years of investigation, when they really got close to the truth, they gave up the investigation. This is a true story. It turns out that reality is stranger than the legend.

Old man Aza continued:

Back in 1955, archaeologists discovered a group of ancient tombs on Shizhai Mountain on the shore of Dian Lake in Yunnan. After digging with a shovel, it turned out that underneath was the ancient Dian Kingdom that had been hidden for more than 2,000 years.

First, a strange bronze artifact was dug out of the hillside. On it are 127 little people, various animals, and buildings. No one has ever seen this kind of bronze, and no such thing has been unearthed in the world. When it was unearthed, there was still a clanging sound inside the bronze vessel. Archaeologists tried to open the bronze vessel to see what was inside.

After opening the bronze, experts discovered that there were more than 300 shells inside. Upon further inspection, it turned out to be an Indian Ocean seashell. Archaeologists call this bronze vessel the Cumeng scene shell storage vessel.

  Old man Aza took out a few photos from his bag collection and said while showing them:

Some people say that the picture in the photo is the piggy bank of the ancient Dian king, and it depicts the scene of human sacrifice.

Keep digging and dig out two more piggy banks of this kind. One is called the Murder Pillar Scene Container. There is another one called the Gilt Knight Shell Storage.

It seems that Zhang Qian did not deceive Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Yunnan really had horses, knights, money, and trade channels.

Agudumba asked: Is the legend of the secret passage true?

Old man Aza said:

Digging further down, many bronze drums appeared. The archaeologists breathed a sigh of relief. They were all filled with scenes of dragon boat racing and praying for rain and blessings. It seems that the ancient Dian people were either a horse-riding commercial nation, or an ancient country that lived and farmed next to Dian Lake for generations. They may have never left Dian Lake.

The legend of the secret passage is, after all, a legend.

Old man Aza pointed to the picture and said:

You see, these bronzes are actually very exquisite, proving that the ancient Dian Kingdom was not barbaric, and that their nobles had very advanced cultural and technological capabilities. History books say that they surrendered and were not exterminated. In this case, with their cultural and technological strength, they will definitely leave descendants around Dian Lake. As long as we find the real-life descendants of the ancient Dian people, we can prove that they did not escape through any secret passage. Therefore, the legend of the underground passage connecting Yunnan to India is self-defeating.

Therefore, 20 years ago, archaeologists decided to start by searching for the descendants of the Yunnan people, and then further decipher the truth behind the disappearance of the ancient Yunnan people. But then, the question arises, with so many ethnic minorities in Yunnan, who are the descendants of the ancient Dian people?

Old man Aza said:

The first subject of investigation at that time was the Wa people on the China-Myanmar border. Because there are a large number of human sacrifice scenes on these Dian Kingdom bronzes, and the Wa people happen to be the only ethnic minority with the custom of human sacrifice in reality.

Archaeologists went deep into the Wa village and the elders told them about their sacrificial customs. Until the 1940s and 1950s, many warriors from the village were sent out to hunt for heads. That is to say, kill some people from foreign tribes and then bring back their heads. The heads of these foreigners were sacrificed to various gods in the village. Headhunting and sacrificing are a custom that the Wa people have inherited for countless years.

After hearing this story, archaeologists quickly ruled out the possibility that the Wa people were descendants of the ancient Dian people. Because the sacrifices on the bronzes of the ancient Dian people are obviously not the headhunting custom of the Wa people. There is a pillar on the bronze in the center of the square. On the pillar is a man with long braids. His hairstyle is different from the others.

Old man Aza pointed to the photo and said:

This photo shows that he may be a foreign prisoner of war. This prisoner of war was sacrificed on a pillar, which is obviously different from the Wa people's custom of headhunting and sacrifice.

In addition, the most important point is that the elders of the Wa ethnic group are all men, but on the bronze vessels, the person presiding over the sacrifice is a woman. It seems that the ancient Dian people believed in witches.

Following this custom, archaeologists found a second object of investigation a little further on the south bank of Dianchi Lake.

The Huayao Dai are considered a branch of the Dai people, but in fact they have a very obvious difference from the Dai people. That is, the costumes of the Huayao Dai people are much more gorgeous than those of the Dai people, and the C position of the Dai people can be Buddha, a peacock, a beautiful woman, etc., but the person sitting in the C position of the Huayao Dai people will always be a female elder. This woman The elder is their witch. When the investigators stayed in the Huayao Dai village, they found that whether beside the fire pit or in front of the spinning wheel, there was always a female elder with a high status.

If a child is born, the female elder must be asked to bless him; if an elder dies, the female elder must be invited to preside over the funeral; all social activities in the village must be arranged by the female elder.

Even if a young man wants to go out or take a car, he must first ask the female elder about the bad luck. If the female elder does not speak and does not give you blessings, then the young man may not dare to leave the village even if he is beaten to death.

The Huayao Dai live in the jungle of the Yuanjiang River Valley, like a hidden paradise. And it just so happens that their ancient legend also says that they escaped from Dianchi Lake after being defeated in the war more than 2,000 years ago.

After investigating this point, it seems certain that the Huayao Dai are descendants of the ancient Dian people. However, here comes the problem. The architectural style and celebration rituals of the Huayao Dai are completely different from those of the ancient Dian people.

Old man Aza pointed to another photo and said:

According to bronze ware, the ancient Dian people lived in saddle-shaped houses that were wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. The Huayao Dai did not have this architectural style at all. In addition, the bronze ware specifically shows the dragon boat rowing ceremony of the ancient Dian people, but the Huayao Dai people have no similar customs at all. It seems that the Huayao Dai are not 100% descendants of the ancient Yunnan people, and the truth needs to continue to be investigated.

Therefore, experts turned their attention to Xishuangbanna further south, where the Dai people still have the tradition of dragon boat racing and the architectural style is similar. Could it be that the ancient Yunnan people really crossed the mountains and reached Xishuangbanna, 400 kilometers away?

When the investigators came to the Lancang River, it happened to be the Dai New Year and the first day of the Water Splashing Festival. On the river, the Dai people were racing dragon boats. They took out the bronze vessels and compared them. They were exactly the same. After further investigation, it turns out that the Dai people race dragon boats not to commemorate Qu Yuan, but to pray for good weather and a good agricultural harvest. This is the same as the ancient Dian people's analysis of dragon boat racing to pray for a good harvest.

Could it be that the unsolved case has been solved? Were the ancient Dian people assimilated by the Dai people in the south? Part of the tradition is integrated into the Huayao Dai people, and part of it is integrated into the Dai people? Are there any customs that have not been discovered that may have been integrated into other uninvestigated ethnic groups?

Originally, if no new archaeological evidence emerged, experts could have drawn a hasty conclusion, and the legend of the secret passage could have been discontinued. The ancient Dian people simply routed to the south, getting weaker and weaker along the way, and fled 400 kilometers. In the end, they were completely melted by other ethnic groups, and today they have become various ethnic minorities such as the Dai and Huayao Dai.

Old man Aza said:

But obviously, this cannot be the ancient truth. Because, 1,000 kilometers away in Vietnam, a jaw-dropping bronze artifact—Shizhaishan Bronze Drum—was unearthed. What is Shizhaishan Bronze Drum? Do you still remember the name of the place where Chinese archaeologists first excavated the ruins of the ancient Dian Kingdom in 1955? Shizhai Mountain on the shore of Dianchi Lake.

Old man Aza took out two more photos and said:

The most distinctive bronze vessels unearthed from the ancient Dian Kingdom site in Shizhaishan are two types, one is a shell storage vessel and the other is a bronze drum. Because Chinese archaeological results were published earlier, this kind of bronze drum is called Shizhaishan Bronze Drum internationally. Therefore, the current situation is that Vietnam has unearthed ancient Dian bronze drums of the same style as Shizhaishan.

The experts immediately rushed to Vietnam and exclaimed: After more than 30 years of investigation, they have underestimated the ancient Dian Kingdom. Could it be that they had two capitals in the north and south? The ruled area extends from Guizhou and Yunnan to Vietnam? Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty only destroyed the Northern Dian Kingdom? Is South Dian Kingdom still in Vietnam?

With 10,000 question marks, the experts arrived in Dongshan County, Vietnam.

Vietnamese experts said that as early as 1924, a French archaeological team unearthed many such bronzes in Dongshan County. The French believed that this was an ancient civilization native to Vietnam and named them "Dong Son Culture". The influence of Dong Son culture is very large, including almost the entire North Vietnam. Later, more than 1,500 bronzes from the Dongshan Culture were unearthed. There are more than 30 bronze drums.

A Vietnamese expert named Nguyen Van Viet said that when he was studying these bronze drums, he discovered: Isn’t this the Shizhaishan bronze drum?

Not only are the drums exactly the same in shape, but the material and craftsmanship of the bronze are exactly the same, and even the patterns on them are exactly the same. There are also dragon boats and saddle-shaped houses that are wide at the top and narrow at the bottom... Even the unearthed bronze figures have the same hairstyle...

What is the relationship between Dongshan culture and ancient Dian people?

Vietnamese experts are more inclined to believe that the ancient Yunnan people fled to Vietnam and rebuilt civilization here. However, is this kind of large-scale migration spanning 1,000 kilometers through the mountains and mountains of Yunnan really possible?

What is the concept of 1000 kilometers in Yunnan? Why are there so many ethnic minorities in Yunnan? Because, in Yunnan, all it takes is a mountain to separate two groups of people by more than 10 kilometers, which can prevent them from communicating for generations and gradually turn them into two ethnic groups.

And crossing 1,000 kilometers of mountains in Yunnan? Looking at the map, it is like the ancient Dian people said that the secret passage can not only lead to India, but also to Vietnam.

This is impossible, there must be some trade route between the ancient Dian Kingdom and the Dongshan Culture. The experts moved the investigation object back to Huayao Dai again and finally breathed a sigh of relief. It turns out that the place where the Huayao Dai lived was called Yuanjiang. After the Yuanjiang River flowed out of China, it was called Honghe. This Yuanjiang-Honghe River system is like a secret passage hidden in the mountains. Although it has long been closed to navigation, in ancient times, it was indeed possible for the ancient Yunnan people to migrate south along this water system to Vietnam.

From this point of view, Huayao Dai was a retreat stronghold for the ancient Yunnan people. They did not take away the witches. Those witches in costumes stayed in the jungle of the river valley forever and became today's Huayao Dai.

Men came to Dong Son, Vietnam to rebuild civilization. Is this the complete truth?

Apparently, archaeologists encountered the same problems in Vietnam as in China. That is, although there are bronze drums and Dongshan culture here. But where are their descendants in reality?

Among the various ethnic groups in Vietnam, no one lives in such a saddle house with a wide upper part and a narrow lower part. What's more, there are also round houses in Dongshangu that are not found in Shizhaishangu. This type of round house has been preserved in Vietnam.

Could it be that the migration destination of the ancient Yunnan people was not Vietnam? Or is Vietnam just one of their southern strongholds? After the demise of the northern Dian Kingdom, the southern Dian Kingdom nobles suffered a devastating blow and had to follow the northern Dian Kingdom nobles into a secret passage and retreat to a farther place?

The truth is getting blurry, but the legend of the secret passage is getting clearer. But at this time, news came from Cambodia further south. Relics from the ancient Dian Kingdom that no one could have imagined were unearthed from the Boch ruins...

A German doctor named Ray Andy said that when they arrived in Poch, the tomb robbers had dug it into a sieve. The entire site is like the surface of the moon, one hole after another. While Dr. Lei was rescuing the Boch ruins, several Shizhaishan bronze drums were unearthed.

Originally, this bronze drum could only show that the ancient Yunnan people from Dongshan, Vietnam, may have migrated south to Cambodia. Although this road is covered with tropical rainforest, it is not completely impassable. But then, Dr. Lei discovered that inside every bronze drum unearthed in Poch, there was a human head. This is something not found in Vietnam or even in most Shizhaishan bronze drums.

What does the skull in the drum mean?

Experts say that this is called a head burial, that is, when the body is buried, the bronze drum is placed on the head of the body. This custom occurs most often in Coke Township in Guizhou, China, and is known internationally as Coke culture. Behind the cola culture is the mysterious ancient country in Chinese history books that is at odds with the ancient Dian Kingdom - the Yelang Kingdom.

There is an idiom in China called Yelang is arrogant. It means that when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty wanted to pass through the Yelang Kingdom to attack the Dian Kingdom, he sent an envoy to borrow a passage from the Yelang Kingdom.

The king of Yelang Kingdom asked the envoy of the Han Dynasty, is your Han Dynasty as big as our Yelang Kingdom? Seeing the same style of Yelang drum unearthed in Bohe, I suddenly understood the feeling of King Yelang.

How did the drum set from Yelang Kingdom get buried in an ancient tomb in Cambodia? No one can answer this question, except the legendary secret passage.

It seems that there is still something unsaid in the legend, that is, those who retreated with the nobles of the ancient Dian Kingdom were also their neighbor brothers-the Yelang nobles.

Could it be that they really entered the underground through the entrance under Fuxian Lake, and when they returned to the surface, they had already arrived in Cambodia?

Old man Aza said:

This is too exaggerated. The experts moved their investigation to the Dai people. Because there has been a case of successfully cracking the secret passage before, that is, the place where Huayao Dai lived was called Yuanjiang, and after going abroad, it was called Honghe. But this time, experts said that the place where the Dai people live is called the Lancang River, and after going abroad, it is called the Mekong River. Poh happens to be not far from the mouth of the Mekong River.

No, the secret passage cannot exist. You must have drifted from the Lancang River to Cambodia by boat. Experts are going crazy. The legend of the secret passage is really unbearable.

But at this time, the investigation team received an even more exaggerated clue.

Some people say that real-life descendants of the ancient Dian Kingdom have been discovered on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. This is across the Indian Ocean, how is it possible?

　　The experts flew overnight to Medan, the largest city in Sumatra, and ran non-stop for six hours. They finally arrived at their destination - Lake Toba.

Lake Toba is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. There is an island in the middle of the lake called Samosir Island. The people living on the island are called Badak people.

And when the experts landed on Samosir Island, it was like an arrow in the knee. The architecture, dances, and costumes here are exactly the same as those depicted on the bronzes of the Dian Kingdom. The house is in the shape of a saddle that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, which has never been seen in Yunnan, Vietnam, or Cambodia. It is exactly the same as the one on the bronze. The beams around the house are covered with exquisite patterns. At a glance, these ancient patterns remind experts of the same shapes on bronzes.

The Badak people said that these patterns were drawn by wizards. The wizards said that these patterns had magical powers and could inject magic into the wood to protect the houses and avoid bad luck. The pillar in the center of the square is engraved with human heads, which is simply a hint of the pillar on ancient Yunnan bronze vessels for sacrificing prisoners of war.

Ask again, the Badak people are exactly the famous cannibals described by Western missionaries. In 1816, Dutch missionaries arrived on Samosir Island and spread the gospel, causing the Badak people to give up headhunting and the tradition of human sacrifice.

But it is very regrettable that the Dutch missionaries at that time did not record in detail how the Badak people sacrificed because it was too bloody. The current Badak people only know that their ancestors believed that after the prisoners of war were sacrificed, the tribe would gain the power from the prisoners of war.

Experts then examined dance and found that the Badak people have a very unique dance form, which, like their architectural style, is completely different from the surrounding tribes. Experts say that Bardak's dance language is simply a restoration of the bronzes of the ancient Dian Kingdom. The frozen moments on the ancient Yunnan bronzes were resurrected in the Badak village.

It was so unbelievable that the experts decided to come up with one last thing to stump the Bardocks. No one can believe that the Badak people are the descendants of the ancient Dian people. If this is the case, besides the legendary secret passage, is there anything else that allows the Bardak people to cross the Indian Ocean and travel to Bardak.

So the experts decided to attend a Badak funeral. Because the ancient Dian people had a tradition of secondary burial. That is, 3-5 years after the burial, relatives would dig out the remains again and hold a more grand funeral. In this way, after two funerals, life would be considered the end. .

In the case of the Badak people, the experts continued to attend the second funeral of the Badak people with their jaws on the floor.

They still retain this tradition. Witnessed by experts, the Badak people reunited with their ancestors in this special way. In addition to being shocked, it is still shocking.

How to explain this crossing from Lake Dian to Lake Toba, from the ancient Dian people to Badak? At this point in the investigation, it's like the legend is mocking the imagination of modern people.

Finally, the Badak people proposed to use DNA technology to compare, and all the truth would be revealed. But experts said no. On the surface, experts say that it is a pity that the DNA of the ancient Yunnan people was damaged by the acidic soil, and no DNA samples of the ancient Yunnan people have yet been unearthed. But in fact, it may be that our world still needs this sense of mystery.

Old man Aza looked up out of the window and sang a little song "Looking for the Descendants of Ancient Yunnan People" with enlightenment:

 

God gave us a strong curiosity,

And the long-distance running endurance that is best at exploring,

We work hard to find the descendants of the ancient Dian people,

Curiosity leads us into mysterious worlds.

 

Legend has it that there is a secret passage deep in the mountains of Yunnan.

Able to travel from Yunnan to India,

Enter the bottom of the lake from the entrance under Fuxian Lake.

You can hold the key to the world.

 

Maybe you'll find a lost civilization,

Countless exits connect to the surface world,

You will cross the Indian Ocean from the underworld,

You will come to Badak, Sumatra.

 

The ancient Dian Kingdom mysteriously disappeared two thousand years ago.

Where are you mysteriously hiding now?

We are working hard to find the descendants of the ancient Dian people,

Unfortunately, no record can be found in history books.

 

Why did the ancient Dian Kingdom disappear suddenly?

It seems that only the descendants of the ancient Dian people can be found.

Maybe we can unveil the mysterious kingdom,

We look forward to the day when the truth comes out.